A Blast From the Past
by Universal808
Summary: 9 year old Toby was always a smart kid. So after dicovering a time machine and getting it to work, he gets sent to the future, 5 years later. It's not all fun and games when he discovers new changes, people, and...himself. Knowing too much, Toby is sent to disappear off from time, or so thought. Can Astro help him get away with that though? Even if he himself, may cease to exist?
1. A Time Machine?

**I should not be uploading a story right now but I CAN'T RESIST. This has been in my mind for a while now..(Only for 3 days) but I really want to start writing whether I update early, or not. I procrastinate but Thanksgiving is coming soon so, fingers crossed for that. **

**I seriously hope no one took this idea yet. If yes, then I'm dead. I got this idea when I was thinking what would happen if I hadn't met my best friend greenie (Or Arette, whatever) and this idea popped in my head so... yeah.**

**For those DP fans. I know. I totally got that from Dan in Ultimate Enemy. But I needed a title, and that showed up cuz of Clockwork. Blame Clockwork.**

**Okay, I'll stop my blabbering. Chapter 1 or prologue, whatever.**

**A TIME MACHINE?  
**

"I told you, your father is out on a business trip. You know how important is job is"

"C'mon Orrin, why can't he just stop it with his business and stuff? Can't he at least take the day off or something?"

"You know he can't do that Master Toby. He said he'll do it next week, but you'll have to wait"

Toby pouted his little face.

He was wearing a plain white shirt, black pants and blue tennis shoes. His eyes were chocolate-brown and his hair was black, with two hand-made points sticking out. He was just an average fourth grader. Only he was the son of this brilliant scientist, Dr. Tenma, who created the robots that existed around them. Like Orrin for instance, the housebot. His father was a very intelligent, and popular man.

But even with all the privileges and popularity, things weren't always fun. Toby's dad was almost never free, and when he was, it would only be for a short time. But never less, Toby was bored. He finished his homework, his friends were busy, and Toby wasn't in the mood to experiment. He would never be as good as his father.

Eventually, he got tired of this and decided to explore his dad's office. He wasn't there anyways.

The young boy jumped of the couch, and secretly made his way to his dad's office. He made tiny footsteps, occasionally looking over his shoulder. Orrin was preparing lunch as usual, but Toby was smart enough to be cautious. He neared his way through the door, quickly opening it, and shutting it afterwards. Turning around, Toby locked the door and took a look at his surroundings.

Dr. Tenma's office, was just an office with blueprints, gadgets, notes, pictured of all source and loose robot parts. There was a large table that took half of the space, a trashcanbot, pencil sharpener, and a closet to the boy's right. Curious, nine-year old Toby opened it, and the space revealed a machine.

Well, it was hard to describe. It was really high-tech with buttons of all sorts. Switches, lights, and most important... Clocks. There were ones of all sorts telling the time of Everything! It was basically cylindrical, enough space for a body to fit in.

"Oh, cool! A time machine!" the eager boy said. It was merely an inference, yet the boy knew he was right. Either or, he looked around some more.

There were also notes all around it. All of them kept saying why the machine wasn't working. Either or, Toby tried to turn it on. Nothing. He sighed, and kicked the machine, when something popped out. A plug. A PLUG.

"And they say my dad's a genius. He didn't even plug it in!"

Toby bent down and reached for the plug, connecting it to its socket. All of a sudden, everything whirrs, and this blue energy glows from within the machine. A part of it slowly opens, like a door inviting him inside. Toby didn't know why, but he stepped in it, and it closed behind it.

The inside was practically the same as the outside, except this time he didn't know how it worked.

"This sucks. I would've really wanted to know how I was as a teen. Guess I'll never know" Toby said to himself.

After that statement, the ground shook, and lights were blaring everywhere on the machine. Smoke emerged from the inside and the boy was panicking. It was getting harder to breathe, and he fell down to the ground before is vision blacked out.

**Voila! Mah first Astro Boy story! Yeah, this is a prologue. It's in third person, a filler, and is really short so... Yups. Yeah, can you please review? I really love reviews and NEED criticism. Be honest, and please be nice about it. Oh yeah, don't judge. No one likes a judger. So please review? I'd really like some!**

**DISCLAIMER: Can't believe I forgot! I don't own Astro Boy. If I did, there would be a sequel. Dur.**

**Yay! I corrected the spelling mistakes! (I hope) And again, REVIEW!**


	2. In the Future! Sorta

**THIS DOESN'T SAY COMPLETE SO IT MEANS I HAVEN'T GIVEN UP!**

**I am so terrible. I knew I should have waited this idea later but I have SO MANY IDEAS! But.. thank you for all of your reviews and support! They really encourage me a lot to UPDATE FASTER, even though I have a lot of other things to do. But overall, keep them up!**

**And to Guest! Who apparently doesn't have an account (Or was too lazy to log in) so I can't reply. Let me just say...**

**Oh my gosh, you thought I wasn't going to update and lost interest? LE GASP! You have seriously brought me back on the verge to writing. I just hadn't been able to really work on this so... yeah. Everybody give a hand of applause to Guest! So yeah, I'm just gonna go on with the story... yup.**

**Disclaimer: Meh, I don't own Astro Boy, now push off.**

**IN THE FUTURE... SORTA**

Toby was in a little alley in a concealed space that wasn't visible to anyone walking on the streets of Metro. He was a bit shaken, but was still conscious, just didn't really want to wake up. Finally, his eyes slowly fluttered open, and with a steady move, he stood up. His legs were a bit wobbly, but he managed to stay put. He narrowed his eyes through the alleyway, and saw a thrift store right across the street. Swiftly, he ran towards it.

Why would he need to go to such a store so quickly? Well, as the son of a brilliant scientist, he was clever enough to know, that in the future, things change, and when things change, you have to make sure you know about the changes before anyone knows you're from the past. Say, that in the future, he was a villain (which he highly doubts that would happen) and he just went walking around the streets, everyone would mistake him for the real deal and... well, bad things would happen. So he needed to disguise himself. Nothing too heavy. But very big hoodie, too big for himself, would be perfect. And that's what he would be looking for.

While he was running down the street though, he saw more than enough things to prove he was really in the future Metro city. There were robots EVERYWHERE, not just at home only anymore. Many of them were up in the skies, with flying abilities, and a lot were with the people, struggling to keep up with their needs. Some hovercars were even out in the skies flying freely, rather than just hovering slightly over the roads that were built. But what weirded him out the most is that there was a slight scent of earth. Yes, Earth, and it was had just a scent of air fresheners for some odd reason. But Toby supposed it was just a change in the future.

The doors opened for him smoothly like always closing behind him once he was inside the store. Luckily, when he was inside, no one was there. Just him, and the robot cashier.

At least, that's what he thought.

Because the cashier was not a robot.

Not knowing this, he took a baggy gray hoodie out of one of the racks, and handed the money, and left off. All of a sudden he stopped right in his tracks, and did a double-take, slowly turning his head to see that the cashier, was a person. An African-American man in his 40's with grayish-black hair with a grayish-black beard, a white plaid shirt with the name 'Albert' pinned proudly on his chest, and a blue newsboy hat. His head was tilted in confusion, his eyes wide.

You could say, Toby almost fainted. It was very rare for a regular person to be working, especially since he was in the future.

Albert noticed this, and asked, "Are you okay kid?" His voice had a hint of Western in it. An accent that could only be found in the surface.

Toby woke up from his daze. "Of course I'm alright!" He said nervously. "I just never knew that regular people actually work. Especially at this time period" Toby stopped talking for he used bad word choice.

Again, Albert tilted his head in confusion. "This has been going on for three months already. Ever since you said that robots hadn't been treated that nicely, they started opening up a few jobs for regular people. Everyone was surprised at the amount of people who wanted to join. I was one of those people. I had been thinking the same thing ever since I've moved here. I had insisted that the robots would just take a break, they had after all done so much for us. So I was one of the first ones to volunteer, and human life went on" Albert explained.

Toby felt a bit guilty now about the robot thing. He never once thought about how Orrin felt. He had done so much for him and his family. Maybe when he comes back to his own time, he'd treat Orrin with more respect.

"I did that?" Toby asked. Albert nodded. "Well you are, Astro, aren't you?"

Toby was a bit fazed. _'Astro is my name in the future? I changed my name? But I like it!"_

"Umm, no, my name is Toby"

Albert examined him, head to toe, and folded his arms. "I'm just saying you look just like him. You're like, a smaller version of him"

Toby chuckled nervously. "Yeah, maybe so"

Suddenly, a large crash shook the area, shaking Toby off-balance. "What was that?" he asked worriedly.

"Probably some robot or monster attacking" Toby's eyes went wide. "But don't worry, Astro's on his way"

"Robot?" _Has the world gone mad?_

"Oh, that's another reason why their opening up jobs. Some of Stone's robots are still loose, from the Peacekeeper incident" Albert explained.

Toby's eyes remained wide. "Um... I should probably get going. My, uh.. dad's waiting for me" It wasn't completly a lie.

The cashier smiled. "If you need anything, you know where to find me"

Toby nodded, put the hoodie on, and headed straight toward his apartment which was conveniently just a few blocks away. There, would hold many answers, to the many questions in his head, waiting to be answered. Why was his city was disturbed from peace, why people are used to it, why robots are turning against them, the Surface accent, the smell of earth, People jobs, and more importantly, who was his future self, Astro.

_**-o-o-o-o-o-o-**_

"Orrin? Where's Astro?"

The ever-so-loyal housebot responded. "He's out fighting one of Stone's loose robots again. Probably will be here in a minute"

"I'm home! Hi Orrin!" said Astro who had just entered from the now opened window. He was just like Toby, only bigger with a blue hoodie and shiny red boots which hid the state of the art rocket boosters. As the most advanced robot ever created (Tenma, his father made sure of that) it was kind of expected.

"Make that a second" Orrin chuckled. "Welcome home Astro"

"Hey kid, you think you can do me a favor send Albert his monthly bill?" asked Dr. Tenma. "He's always an enthusiastic worker"

"Kay dad!" Astro said cheerfully.

"Be back in a sec!" he said and left the building. Soon after, knocks were heard on the door. Immediately, Orrin rolled through the floors of his home, and opened the door. His friendly smile was replaced with a shocked 'o', when he saw someone he never thought he would see. It was a small boy, a very familiar one holding a gray hoodie in one hand, with blue tennis shoes, and not red boots. His hair was just like Astro's, and his smile was all too familiar. He cheerfully greeted him, with a simple, "Hi Orrin!"

Those two words were enough to make him faint.

**I made Orrin faint. It was an idea that was stuck in my head for a while, aka, ever since I came up with this story idea. Needless to say, I was lazy on the ending, so sorry if it sucked. And the next chapter will be a filler one, but I'll try to make it good... PFT. Yeah right.**

**Again, super sorry for the long update! I probably have no fans now. But reviews would be nice! I'll try get the next update in before January... hopefully. You would not know how hard it was to say Toby and not Astro. Sorry for the length though, I was sorta in a rush, and no matter what I did, I couldn't make this chapter what I wanted to be. Sometimes, authors need to make sacrifices like this.**

**(Oh right, for the hovercar thing. If you look closely while watching the movie, you'll see that the cars hover slightly above the ground, yet they still have roads. I think it's like that so that the rides wouldn't be too bumpy, and more smoothly I think. Either that, or I was just guessing)**

**Review please? And let me in on the errors made.**


	3. Explaining, Lots of it

**Did I say before January? I meant DURING IT.**

**Sorry! My life's been so DRAMATIC lately and filled with troubles that you of course wouldn't understand. I'm sorry to say, but this is a filler chapter. Action will happen in the next, or the one after the next. And Guest, I must say you are AWESOME. I didn't see what part of the review was harsh, it was actually really kind! Thank you for your support, and I hope you're not mad at me... It's not February isn't it?**

**Anyways, enough of my blabbering, and lets move on!**

**EXPLAINING... LOTS OF IT**

Dr. Tenma heard a very large clank hit the flooring in his office. Assuming it was something Orrin dropped, he sighed, and waiting for him to fuss about or say "I'm okay!" Or something, like he always did. While continuing on with his work, he found the room being pretty quiet. Still waiting for some sort of response from Orrin, he waited... and waited... still waiting... and eventually, stood up from his seat, and walked out the door to find a very surprising scene before him.

First of all, there was Orrin, the cheerful yet clumsy robot... lying on the ground. Dr. Tenma was exceptionally surprised. He assumed that either something attacked, or that the robot was drained out of power. He figured it was none of the above. Astro would've beat up the robot/monster/mysterious force before it would cause any harm, and Orrin had just recently been charged up. Fainted? He didn't think so.

Muttering something under his breath, he looked up to find Astro looking wide-eyed... with different clothes?

"Astro?" He asked. "What are you doing here so fast, I figured Albert would've made a lengthy conversation-"

'Astro' shook his head. "Not Astro."

Tenma frowned, thinking of something, but shaking it off.

"Really obsessed fan?"

The boy shook his head. It took a while, but soon enough, realization dawned over Tenma, yet he refused to believe it.

_'Nononono this isn't happening'_ he thought repeatedly. Although he had wished for this moment to come, he wasn't ready. Astro wasn't ready.

Dr. Tenma looked at the boy. He did look like Astro, just smaller with black pants and blue shoes. This particular observation confirmed Tenma's suspicions. Astro couldn't take his shoes off, and if the boy was some obsessed fan, he would be jumping around like crazy by now. But this boy, was looking up to him, a bit surprised, but like he'd known him his whole life.

"T-Toby?" Dr. Tenma asked in a tremulous matter.

The boy nodded, and smiled.

"Hi Dad" he said. Silence. "Umm... Dad? Dad? Da-ad"

Tenma was spaced out, and stood stiff not noticing Toby running off to get some water. Tenma was just there, a shocked expression on his face, and suddenly found himself being dragged onto a couch, being catered by his son... Toby. _'He's alive' _was Dr. Tenma's unspoken thoughts, as he was left alone to think on what happened.

_**-o-o-o-o-o-o-**_

Astro found himself zipping through the skies of Metro city, landing in an abrupt halt once he was in front of the door of an average thrift store. Then, he walked through the doors which were automatically open for him, to see one of the employees, Albert a bit wide-eyed.

"Back already?"

Astro gave a look of confusion. "Back? I just came" Albert raised one of his furry eyebrows, then looked at him again.

"Oh! Sorry Astro, I thought you were that Toby kid. He's a nice guy you know, looks a lot like you"

It was Astro's turn to be wide-eyed. His jaw was slighty opened, and he was standing still, not daring to move. It was also Albert's turn to give a look of confusion. "You okay kid?" he asked, concerned. Astro shook his head to wake himself from the trance, then nodded.

"Sorry, just thinking" he said. Then he dug his hands into his pockets, realizing that he was going off track of his job.

"Here" he said, giving Albert an envelope with his monthly pay for working at the thrift store. The man happily accepted the paycheck, and before Astro could fly off in a hurry, he stopped him.

"Astro, I know something's up, and I have the experience to prove it. What's wrong?" He said. Astro was standing still, but more in a hesitant way. He sighed, and turned around to meet Albert's concerned eyes.

"Can you please describe Toby?" Astro finally said.

Albert smiled, seeing that he got into the core of the 'ole boy. "If that's all you need, then let's say it"

"He looked exactly like you. Pointed hair, with a plain white shirt, black pants, and tennis shoes. He had that same expression on his face, only his, was much more cheery, like a child. He was just smaller than you, the only difference besides the clothes. I would've assumed he was just an obsessed fan, but he looked a bit more lost. Didn't really know the way things worked around here"

Astro blinked, surprised. Then thanked Albert for the info, before flying off.

He really did think that this could be Toby. But he figured that it was impossible. Albert described, that he was younger, smaller.

_'Probably just a coincidence'_ Astro thought, shrugging.

_**-o-o-o-o-o-o-**_

"Or not?"

Toby gasped at the sight he saw. There stood an identical copy of him, older, nonetheless. He had a white shirt hidden under a blue jacket, and jeans over shiny red boots. His hair, was raven black, styled the same way like Toby's, except more... accurate. Yeah, you could say that. But the thing that was a bit unnatural to him, was that he came in... from the patio... which was several feet out in the air.

"How did you get up here?" Toby immediately asked, slightly surprised that was the first question that came out of his mouth considering that his future self was standing right in _front _of him.

"Umm... ladder? I mean, um, yeah, rope ladder?"

Toby was unconvinced. "I swear, I saw you flying up here"

"Trick of the light?"

Toby raised his eyebrow, but shrugged it off, thinking that he might be right. Then he jumped out of the couch, then started to walk around, and glanced back at the teenager.

"So you're my future self?"

The boy blinked. "Future? What do you mean, future?" Toby raised his eyebrow again, slightly surprised. "Oh right! Future, yeah. Future. That's right..." The teen glanced back up.

"Hi umm.. Toby. The name's Astro" 'Astro' smiled warmly, but he seemed unsure of himself and a sprinkle of worry too. Toby took a deep breath, and decided to go through this stage slowly. Even in this time period, the idea of time-traveling was still a bit too advanced even though his father had made a working machine himself not knowing that it actually _worked._

"Why Astro?" Toby asked. Astro shyly crossed his legs.

"I wanted a little change. And Astro seemed pretty cool" he answered.

"But I like my name" Toby argued.

"Maybe so, but you might have a change of thought when you're older" said Astro. Toby pouted, and he laughed. Toby sighed, and pondered onto another question.

"What's with the Surface accents? And the robot attacks? And all the other stuff that happened!"

Astro sighed, and smiled. "Let me tell you a story" he said as he directed Toby to the table. "It's about a robot. A particularly... well, interesting robot. You see, he was one who resembled much like a human.

"Well, his creator sorta, umm... kicked the robot out because he wasn't needed anymore" Toby swear he saw a twinge of pain in Astro's eyes. "And, well, after being attacked by a couple of robots sent by President Stone, he fell to the Surface. Before you ask, President Stone was running for re-election, and he needed something that was in the robot's body. The Blue Core, filled with positive energy. He wanted to use another robot, one with the Red Core, negative energy, to start-up a war, so he could be re-elected. Foolish man.

"So anyways, when the robot fell to the Surface, he befriended a few kids over there. They all became close. That is, until when they found out that the robot wasn't actually a real boy, they turned their backs on him" Astro smiled sadly while Toby wondered what kind of robot was the robot in the story. "So the robot got caught by Stone, but he managed to escape with the help of his creator. You see, they sorta made up with each other. Stone was infuriated, so he sent out the robot with the Red Core, not knowing that the robot would have a mind of its own, and wreak havoc on Metro City. That robot, was called the Peacekeeper"

Unexpectedly, Toby's face lit up. "Oh! So that's what Albert was talking about! The employee at the thrift store!" Astro nodded. Of course that's where he would have gotten most of his information.

"That's right. Anyways, the robot had to fight the Peacekeeper before it could do too much harm to the people of Metro City. During that time, the friends he befriended at the Surface, came to his aid. Apparently, they didn't care if the robot was indeed, a robot. They were still friends weren't they? But still, even they couldn't help the robot. You see, the Peacekeeper had an advantage. It could absorb any type of object into its body, allowing it to be bigger, stronger. So he disrupted the power outage that left Metro City high in the skies. And so, the city fell down.

"Quite luckily, the robot was strong enough to lift Metro City so that it would land safely on the ground, considering his size. He finally managed to beat the Peacekeeper in the end though. But he had to sacrifice himself to truly destroy the Peacekeeper, once and for all. If the Blue Core, and the Red Core collide, both sources will be destroyed. Forever. So that's what the robot did to save Metro City.

"Soon enough, after one of his friends managed to be reunited with her parents, residents that already lived in Metro City learned to accept those on the Surface. People jobs were created, and there was peace once again in Metro City. Although there were still attacks from some of Stone's stray robots, I helped out a lot with them. I guess you can say I was pretty popular today I guess."

Toby gaped at Astro, and was surprised about the story. "Why do you refer the robot as 'he' and the Peacekeeper 'it'?" He asked.

Astro smiled. "I guess he was really humanoid, able to deceive any bystanders eyes. But I think it was because he wanted people to think of him as a person, not like a robot. and because of the importance of what he did, people wanted to honor his wishes"

Toby thought that was a good enough explanation. Just one more question...

"What was the robot's name?"

Astro looked confused. "Huh?"

"The robot's name. If he really was important, then he would deserve a name right? Like the housekeeper Orrin, and maybe the Peacekeeper"

Astro sighed, and stood up from his seat. "Some things are better left off to be alone, especially if you're really from the past" he said stictly. "I hope you can understand"

Toby nodded. "I guess so" he said a bit disappointed. Astro caught this, and patted Toby on the back. "Hey, it's okay" It was pretty quiet after that, until they heard some mechanical whirring, and the two boys turned around to see Orrin, dazed.

"So you really are from the past aren't you Toby" said the robot, a smile on his face. Toby was confused. "What did you call me?"

All of a sudden, Orrin started fussing up. "Oh I'm sorry Master Toby! I forgot for a moment that you werefromthepastandAstroletsm ecallhimbyhisfirstnamesoIsor tadidthesamethingtoyoubecaus eIwasalreadyusedtoitand-"

"Orrin, it's okay. I'm fine with it" Orrin stopped talking. "I was just surprised, that's it"

Orrin let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I was worried for a second"

Toby grinned. "Still the same old Orrin then I guess!"

"Oh right! Astro, can I stay here for a little while? I don't really know how I can go back to my own time so..."

"Oh, of course" said Astro nervously scratching the back of his head. "As long if you don't go outside or anything, then I guess, there's no harm to it, really"

Ha ha, what a lie.

**And there ends the chapter! I know it's late, but it's not as late as last! I think.**

**Anyways, review please! I love feedback! It makes me all warm inside! Right now, this will be my top priority basically because my stories are on a sorta hiatus.**

**Oh right! If you've seen that note on my profile, let's just say, I'm back after mysteriously vanishing! Yay! But hopefully the update should come around next weekend or so. So... review and stuff! Kay, bye!**


	4. Something That Shouldn't Have Been Seen

**Um... sorry? Wow, so much for a promise...**

**But then again, I'm terrible at making promises especially when I feel like the world is on my shoulders and I have way too many distractions. *sigh* From now on, no promises, EXCEPT for this. I WILL finish this to the VERY END. Because of deleting one of my late stories, I've felt guilty, so from now on, no matter how long I try (or no matter how much I refuse -_-') I WILL finish this.**

**But thank's for all the support and reviews! You guys are the best, really, you light up my day whenever I get an alert from FF saying I got a new fav, follow, or review! You guys rock! Thanks!**

**Okay, so don't just stand there! READ!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Astro Boy. Nor do I own that ghost from that old cartoon that will be mentioned in the story (I like making my obsessions relate to one another**

**SOMETHING THAT SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SEEN**

There was a clock. A really big clock in this room filled with lots of clocks and circle-shaped windows. But the really big clock, was in the middle, where there stood a figure. It was a man with a glowing white cloak draped around his shoulders, hood covering his misty eyes. He just stood there, still, in the middle of a circle of other people, identical to him, with dark green cloaks, rather than white. Anyone who would enter this room would think they were in some sort of area outside of time.

They are correct.

"What should we do?" asked one of the green cloaked men. "I mean, the boy has interrupted the balance of time, and the robot decided to spill all his information out from the future. This could mean bad news for us."

The white cloaked man smirked. "Let him be, he hasn't done too much to disturb time" The green guy gasped.

"How can you say that?!" he said as if he was being offended. "Do you know anything about this Master? Seriously, I-" Wisely, the man stopped himself from finishing his statement. "Oh right" he muttered embarrassed.

"Yes. I hope you haven't forgotten, that I know almost about everything. I am the leader of this Council, and I can control time. Not entirely, but I can. Let the boy do what he will.

"After all, he doesn't have much time left. I know that for a fact."

One of the Council members frowned. "All of a sudden, you sound like that ghost from that old cartoon"

A mischievous smile tugged on the Leader's face. "I know" Then he left, leaving the rest of the Council baffled.

_What is he up to?_

_**-o-o-o-o-o-o-**_

"So what now?"

"We wait"

"Waiting's boring"

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

"Go outside"

"Bad idea"

"Why?"

"You know too much"

"What does that matter?"

"The fact that you know too much"

"PLEEEAAAASSSSEEE?"

Astro sighed in defeat. Little Toby was making one of his little "puppy eyes" that no one could resist, apparently, even himself.

"Fine, we're going out" he said, while Toby made a fist and jumped up, in success of persuading his own self. Astro smiled, thinking of how cute he was back then. But then again... he wasn't really him. He was just a copy of Toby. But that didn't stop Astro from wanting to treat him like a brother, just in case the truth ever got out, and Toby is left to deal with his decisions.

"But if anyone asks, you are a really obsessed fan and I'm being really nice" Astro said, while Toby nodded in agreement. Course Astro's being nice. He has no choice, it's a part of him. Literally. So they decided to take the elevator after Astro made up the excuse saying that the rope ladder might have fallen off, and even if it did, it would be too dangerous for a nine-year old climbing down a long height. But right at the time Astro opened the door, they found Cora, fist up as if she was about to knock. She had black hair with purple highlights, a tank top over a t-shirt and jeans. Before she could say something, he closed the door immediately, earning an angry muffled shout coming from the other side.

"Who was that?" asked Toby.

"Uh, no one" Astro answered quickly. "Toby, why don't you go inside my bedroom, I bet you'd like to see what it might look like"

Toby looked dumbfounded. "But-"

He wasn't able to finish his sentence as Astro quickly shoved him into his room and closed the door, leaning on it, sighing in relief. He obviously didn't want Cora to blow his cover looking at the way Astro shoved his twin into his room. After all, she knew nothing about how he was supposed to be meant as a replacement for his dad's late son. He stood up, and walked towards the door, opening it to see Cora again, fuming.

"You know, it's not polite to close the door in front of people's faces even though their one of your very best friends!" she complained, while Astro sheepishly shrugged. She sighed, and walked into the room, plopping on the couch, looking back up to Astro. "Where's your dad anyways?"

"Sleeping" Astro answered. He was still sort of nervous from the little event that had happened only seconds, ago. Cora seemed to notice this, and stood up.

"Whatcha hiding?" Astro jolted, surprised. "Huh?"

Cora smirked. "I know you Astro, and you're not the kind of person who slams the door in front of people's faces unless you were under some kind of pressure"

Astro fumbled a bit trying to find an excuse, while he heard the sound of a small boy.

"Astro, who was that girl?" Toby said, apparently having escaped the clutches of his room, and appearing a few feet away from Cora. "The room's cool by the way"

Cora flinched, and turned around to see the younger version of Astro standing near the couch.

"Huh? There's two of you?"

_**-o-o-o-o-o-o-**_

Astro just wanted to leave. Cora was confused. Toby wanted to know who the girl was. All was settled as soon as they went out the park.

"Who's that girl?"

"Why is there a mini you?"

"Can we just all settle down so I can explain?"

That's what the whole trip to the park was. The same conversation over an over getting more anxious every passing sentence. Bystanders where confused, little kids were pointing, and it all was silent once Astro had stomped his foot rather hard on the ground creating a mini earthquake. Cora had her mouth shut, and Toby had his jaw down gaping at Astro when he realized what he did. Astro cleared his throat, and when they got to a bench, they both sat down. Astro asked Toby to fetch some snacks so he could talk to Cora.

"Who's that kid?" Cora asked for the 20th time. Astro sighed, and explained in an explanation with a sprinkle of lies, here and there.

"He's an obsessed fan who hit his head, causing amnesia, and since I look like him, he thinks he's in the future, and I'm just playing a long with it" Astro said. He _really _didn't like lying, side effect of the blue core, but he had to, or else he would have to explain everything before Toby could get back which would be very slurred. Cora would probably ask him to slow down between parts and Toby could hear everything. It was all too risky. Cora nodded after he had explained, then put her hands to her hips.

"If that was all you could say then why didn't you say so the first time I asked?"

Astro shyly shrugged, as Cora plopped lazily back on the bench, while Toby went back with some snacks: fries, hot dog, and a burger.

"Who's that girl?" he asked once agin, causing Astro to slouch forward.

"She's a good friend of mine" he explained. Toby looked a bit confused.

"If that's all you had to say, then why didn't you just say it?" he complained.

"That's exactly what I said!" Cora pointed out.

History repeated itself when Astro shyly shrugged as Toby groaned his way onto the bench.

"Some things are better left alone" sighed Astro.

"You always say that"

"I've only said it twice"

Toby stuck out his tounge which caused Cora to laugh a bit on how childish it was.

Astro smiled, then stood up. "Hey, I'm just gonna get something, so if you can stay right there," Astro started, and as he was starting to run, but was suddenly pushed aside from a bolt of electricity, seemingly comming out of nowhere, hitting him with enough force to make sparks fly out of his body, making him cry out in pain.

"Astro!" screeched Cora as she tried to go near him to see if anything was wrong, only to be pushed back as Astro was pulled up in midair, his feet turning into rockets trying to fly free from the pain. He was concealed in a big sphere of electric charges, and was lashing out, kicking, screaming, trying to escape the pain. Toby's eyes were wide as he watched the scene before him, and a few bystanders seemed to notice what was going wrong with their beloved robot. Astro was struggling to fall free from the electric volts, but during the process, he unconsciously shot cannons from his arms everywhere hitting several targets, barely missing Toby by an inch. Astro's eyes was squeezed tight, but were soon forced open to reveal glowing blue lights, startling everyone. He was finally pulled free after a minute of torture, as he dropped hard on the ground, lifelessly, while everyone approached him with cautious movements.

"Ohmygod" was repeatedly said from Cora's mouth as she pushed through the crowd finally reaching Astro. "Please let him be okay" she begged as she turned Astro around, lifted up his shirt, and pressed lightly on his chest, revealing a hatch filled with a sphere of blue light, none other than the blue core.

"Thank goodness, he's okay! Sorta, but okay!" cried Cora as she hugged Astro tightly, causing him to stir a bit. She didn't ever want to lose him again after what had happened with the Peacekeeper. He was her best friend, and the person who helped her reunite with her family. She didn't know what would happen if he hadn't fallen into her life, literally.

As for Toby, he saw everything. Heard every single scream, saw every kind of abnormality, felt the very single pang of realization.

Astro's eyes suddenly popped open, as he jumped in the air landing on his feet. He seemed worried, after all, who wouldn't be worried after being somewhat in a trance showing everyone that he had supernatural powers and all that. But these weren't supernatural, but plain old... natural. To a robot at least, which is what Toby instantly realized after the chaos was over.

"You're... a _robot_?!" Toby yelled it loud enough for Astro to hear, causing him to fly over the crowd to him, who quickly backed away, somewhat afraid, shocked, and maybe even in awe. Astro couldn't tell which.

"This isn't what it looks like-"

"What happened?"

If Toby hadn't known better, he would've goofly grinned and jump out into air shouting 'COOL!' But Toby was smarter than you think he'd be, and he knew if he was a robot, then he couldn't possibly have been his future self, unless something happened. And before Toby would go off trying to find who his real future self was, he remembered the story that Astro had told him, about the robot. Astro claimed that the robot had a Blue Core, which was revealed when Cora opened the hatch. Which means that he was lying about it being destroyed. But he didn't really have to, unless he was worried that he would know too much. But he would have no reason to do that if he was a different person all together. And still, his appearance was very much like his own, and he lived in the very same house as he once lived in, and Orrin didn't seem to mind and treated things like before as if nothing changed. Which would mean that Astro _was _his future self. But that seemed impossible all together. However...

"What... Happened"

"I'll tell you what happened" said an unfamiliar, cloudy voice as Cora rushed up to Astro and Toby. "There's some guy that wants to see you" she said, as a figure materialized into thin air, causing the trio to look up in astonishment. It was a man, in a long green cloak, hood covering his white, pale face, only showing a small portion of his mouth.

"Or rather, show you what happened"

A mat of purple powder showered on top of the three, as all of them slowly disappeared, only to reappear into what seemed to be a viewing room, with robotic guards, a large big robot, and scientists viewing the scene before them. The robot, none other than the Peacekeeper, was absorbing mini droids, using them as his own weapons, firing against the rest of the mini androids. And behind a small ledge of the wall was none other than 13-year old, Toby Tenma. Astro gasped, slightly recognizing this scene. This was the end.

All of a sudden, the Peacekeeper fired at the podium of scientists, barely missing President Stone and his short companion. The Peacekeeper started walking towards the group, soon breaking off into run, as Dr. Tenma hurriedly slammed his hand onto the "Emergency Shield" button, releasing a glass wall, trapping the Peacekeeper inside, and apparently one other person. Toby.

"Dad!" Toby yelled, as he slammed the shield trying to free himself. Dr. Tenma, eyes widened in horror, tried to open the shield, but it was no use. The word "Error" repeatedly appeared against the screen, causing Tenma to run over to his son who was trying to free himself, failing each and every time.

"Dad! Dad, help!"

"Toby!" Tenma cried. "It's gonna be okay Toby! I am going to get you out!" Toby's eyes were widened in fear, along with the younger Toby's eyes. "Everything is going to be alright" his father said, almost pleadingly.

"I promise"

That was a promise no more.

The Peacekeeper released all his energy, destroying everything in its surroundings, emitting a blinding light in a reddish, white color. When it disappeared, Dr. Tenma's eyes opened to see his son, gone.

"TOBY!"

The younger Toby ran up to his father still in shock, but when he tried to touch him, the scene dissolved into another one, a lab.

Dr. Tenma was standing behind a desk, studying his blueprints, the blueprints that would create a copy of his son. a few of his helpers brought in a wagon of rockets, Dr. Tenma taking out two of them, setting them on the table. There, a laser zapped the rockets into the place of the robotic body, permanently attaching them on. After nodding, seeing that it was properly attached on, he walked to a red hat, and carefully took out a strand of hair from it. After pressing a few buttons on the screen, he dropped it into a tube, analyzing the DNA, and all the memories concealed in it.

Holographic images of them, appeared above the robot body, showing when Toby was first-born, one time when he and his dad had a picnic, when Toby graduated from elementary school, him winning first in the science fair, him looking up, smiling at his father. It was all downloaded in a transmitter, zapping all the memories into what seemed to be, the brain of the contraption. It's eyes flickered once, then soon filled the room with blue light.

A machine later on, displayed a layer of artificial, yet realistic skin onto the body, along with red boots hiding the rockets, and black shorts with green lighting.

"It looks just like you Astro" awed Cora, as he nodded. The robot looked over to Toby, but he was still traumatized by the last scene, and was even more shocked by this one. _This isn't going good._

Dr. Elefun had come with the blue core, for Dr. Tenma. But when Dr. Tenma was about to place it in the robot's body, the other doctor stopped him.

"The Core is unpredictable. I don't know what effect it will have on it-"

"It's gonna make him perfect" Dr. Tenma stated. "Just like Toby was"

"Dad" was all Toby croaked out as his dad deposited the core into the robot's body. Astro looked down in guilt. If he hadn't gotten out from his seat and gone to get some drinks, Toby wouldn't have ever found out, and he would safely go back to his time not knowing that he was going to die at the age of thirteen, not to mention be replaced. He didn't know any of this was going to happen, and Astro sometimes had wished he wasn't ever created at all. But what's the fun in that?

Wires attached themselves onto several parts of Astro's robot body, as something inside his chest started to glow, generating electricity streaming up the wires, and creating voltic charges into the machines that powered them. More volts streamed down the wires as the room started to shake, machines malfunctioning. But the electricity continued on streaming until it was too much, some wires loosing their grip. The others continued to hold on as a sphere of blue electricity concealed in the body, until there was one huge explosion.

The robotic body slammed onto the ground, landing on the floor. Tenma's eyes were sad with defeat, but when Dr. Elefun tried to go forward, he held him back, as if in hope of the robot actually working.

The fingers started to twitch, and wiggle as if trying to test the feel. The robot pushed itself up, and looked at the two scientists with gleaming blue eyes, fading into all too familiar brown ones.

"Dad?"

Tenma gave in a silent gasp along with the younger Toby. It sounded just like him. "Toby"

The humanoid stood up, then tried to walk, struggling to keep balance, but fell down, Dr. Tenma catching him. "Dad!"

"Welcome back son" he said warmly, hugging him tightly. "Thank you Dr. Elefun. I'm going to take it-him, home now. Quality time, bonding. All the good things"

Dr. Tenma picked the other Toby up, and walked down the doors, closing after the two went out. Cora was a bit shocked of the experience, Astro was guilty, and Toby was teary-eyed.

"I died? And my own dad... replaced me with a robot?!" cried Toby as Astro winced from how Toby had said the word 'robot' with so much venom.

"This isn't what it looked like" said Astro softly. "You see, dad realized his mistake-"

"Who are you calling _dad_! You're just a machine! What do you know" Toby cried as tears sprang out of his eyes. "He replaced me with a _robot! A robot! _My dad's son dies, and he decides to move on with a robot! Not even worthy of being even called human!"

Every single word Toby said punched Astro in the face, and he died every time the word robot came into place. It was said with so much venom. Toby hated him, he knew that. He was only in 4rth grade, what was to expect from him?

"Toby, that's enough" Cora scolded. "Astro's going through a lot now, and you need to understand what he's going through"

"How would you feel if _you _were replaced by something that was supposed to be used as a _tool_?"

Cora then remembered how she ran away from home and had been an orphan for a long time. How _would_ she react if when she came back home, her parents were spending time with a copy of her. As a robot.

"I guess I would be a little mad" Cora whispered as Astro looked away. Cora felt her heart go a bit to Astro. He felt the same way too, except being replaced by the real deal, and being thrown away like a piece of junk, not needed anymore. Maybe robots _could _have feelings if they did the right things. Especially if they were like Astro

Suddenly, the trio was whisked away to another place, a room with a rather big clock. There, stood a man identical to the green cloaked one, except with a blinding white cloak, with a clockwork amulet hung around his neck, displaying a powerful aura around him.

"Tobias Tenma. By breaking many multiple rules of space-time, and knowing too much of the future,

You're coming with me"

**... Dun dun dun...**

**This reminds me so much of Toy Story 3 don't you think? When Emily (I think) lost Lotso, and when he finally found his way back home, after searching for countless days... he sees that he's been replaced. Think about it. Just think about it.**

**And I just HAD to make the purple guy like Clockwork and the green guys like the Observants, I didn't know what else to do. I can't put in some men in suits and a giant floating baby in it! And sorry if Toby or Astro or Cora seem a bit OOC , I didn't have time to watch the whole movie again except for the beginning parts. So sorry, I'll edit it later... probably. But yeah, the next update will take a bit long (Probably 2 weeks again depending on work or distactions) but hopefully could just be next weekend if I'm really free... iIhope.**

**So yeah, can you please review your thoughts about this chapter, and let me know if any parts are rushed, or if there are any errors in grammar, spelling, whatnot. I'm sort of in a rush. But seriously...**

**Review?**

**UPDATE: There, the purple guy is no longer purple, but white. Happy Arette?**


	5. Outside of Time

**I hated the last chapter. All I have to say.**

**Plus I blame Netflix... and school... and over the break school homework... and my habit of procrasinating.**

**Well... sorry? Yeah, don't trust me with promises. I can't keep promises. Sorry.**

**Oh right, I'm making that purple cloaked guy, white cloaked now because this has too many DP relations. The green people (Hehe) will remain the same, just a darker shade of green. That understandable? Good.**

**DISCLAIMER: I keep forgetting to do it, I don't own Astro Boy, in any form, in any way, in any...**

**TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS**

_Time. Time... is like a uniquely woven cloth, patterns unpredictable going off at their own paces. If one were to start sewing onto a cloth, that has already been sewn, without the knowledge of the following patterns, and stop, then go at a different place sand start going again... well that empty space is just empty. Cut off from the rest of the cloth. Cut off from time. But when the sewer starts sewing onto the cloth again, they start sewing different patterns that they're used too. The information sinks in, and even if the sewer was to start off again where it was left off... the patterns won't necessarily be the same, or the strings would not connect. Maybe the sewer does not like the next patterns, and try to avoid it. That is bad. When the patterns overlap on the patterns already set on, it becomes an ugly mess. That's not good. But you could always take off the patterns already set there, and let the sewer be, right? Incorrect. Taking off patterns set in the cloth is hard. In order to do that, you must dismantle the cloth itself. In other words, destroy time. Sometimes, the sewer does not like it so much, he throws it away. Throwing time away. People do that all the time, but throwing time itself away? Total destruction. In real life, the ripples in space-time catch up with the line, and the patterns set on the cloth disappear. But if that happens, the sewer just sewing random patterns at a random pace, because Fate isn't there to guide them. So if that happens there may come a time, when the patterns are so complex, so unpredictable, time just stops going. The sewer gives up. And time just stands still. Never to be awaken. _

_That's why there are people assigned to protect the cloth. The Council, a leader to top it all off. Their job was to protect time, and keep the sewer sewing properly. They protect time so it will go on, and on, forever. Because if no one is there to watch over it... time may just, come to its end. Stop._

Toby was scared out of his mind. The white-cloaked man was scary, anyone would think that. He had a very powerful aura around himself that made him appear as an important person. Well, of course he was. If no one knew that, they wouldn't treat him properly, and end up being dead meat. Toby was wise to make sure he wouldn't do anything bad in front of him. The man noticed Toby's fear though, it was hard not to notice, and sighed.

"You've ruined too much of time" he stated, rather obviously. "Its not balanced. And so, I have no choice"

Toby's eyes widened along with Astro and Cora's If something were to happen to Toby... what would happen to them? For Astro, it was obvious, but what about Cora? Wasn't it Astro who was the one who lead her to being back to her parents? What would happen?

"Tick, Tock" the mysterious man called. Two green cloaked people appeared, just about Astro and Cora's height.

"Take them back to the quarters. I assume -no, I _know_ they will want some explanation for all this. And I know you two know as well" The two nodded, and they appeared next to the other two teens, and both were whizzed off to somewhere else, leaving Toby all alone to confront Fate. Cuz that's exactly what that was.

**_-o-o-o-o-o-o-_**

"Where are we going?" Cora asked. The two green cloaked slowed down to a walk in an eerie dark hallway. The air was cool, and made no movement. It was silent, aside from the sounds of footsteps across a long purple carpet they were walking on. The mysterious helpers of Toby's captor seemed to notice Astro and Cora's uneasiness, and in conclusion, they slowed down to a walk much to their companion's relief.

"We're going to the quarters, like the boss said" The voice belonged to a teenage boy, a faint British accent, echoed and a bit eerie.

"There, all will be explained" said the other cloaked person. This voice belonged to a girl instead, again with a British accent, similar to the boy's. Her's was a bit heavier though, and less monotonous than the boy's.

"I'm Tick by the way" the female said, more cheerfully..

"Tock" said the male one in a dull voice.

"And here we are" said the both of them in unison, both pointing to the tall bronze doors in front of them, standing tall, and clear. The unison part was weird, but Cora found it out eventually.

"Ah! You're twins!" she exclaimed. The two figures smiled grimly, and opened the doors without any response. It lead to a spaced room, sort of like a lounge. It had a couple of couches, a coffee table -stacked clock gears to be exact-, and a giant viewing screen. To Astro and Cora, it was simply a TV (A rather large one) but in this place, it was much more than that. It could not only view places around the world, it could also view many times of places around the world. You could go all the way back to the medieval, times, go view one of the Salem witch trials, or track down the burglar of last night's robbery. But to any other human's eyes, it was just another TV, not really advanced as their's were. WRONG.

"Come, have a seat" Tock said, patting down one of the couches. They were truly comfy, and the two Metro teens would never take in the delight of its comfyness if they wouldn't obey, and so, they obeyed. The two (somehow) managed to keep themselves from collapsing into its softness, Tick and Tock knew from experience, so they instantly knew they were uncomfortable. Tock smiled sincerely, in hopes of cheering them up. He wasn't the cheery type, but he did spare a smile every now and then when the time was right. Frankly, he was the grinning type.

"It's okay, don't be shy" Tock paused for a second. His sister noticed this, and took his place in speaking.

"You know" she whispered, leaning into the two teen's ears. "The Boss is right when he says he has no choice. He's a good guy, promise" Cora hesitantly smiled, mostly because she felt she _had _to, but Astro seemed to be more interested to his metallic red boots, then to what Tick was saying. She sighed, no signs of irritation, or impatience.

"Nothing's gonna happen to you guys" Tock assured, looking a bit spacey. "The Boss said you guys did nothing wrong. You weren't the ones who traveled to the future. You'll still exist... just... in a different place, at a different time...line" Astro slowly looked up, interested in something other than his shoes. "It's true" Tick said.

"In order to protect time, we make spares, other timelines. Things would happen... differently in these timelines. Normally, if the inevitable would happen, you would disappear, but we'd know it would happen by then, so we're already ready with a spare. Cool right?"

The twins looked at each other for a minute, then mischievously grinned, eye's darting back to Astro and Cora.

"We can show you if you like"

_**-o-o-o-o-o-o-**_

Toby was in a small little room, with two chairs, the Boss sitting on the bigger one. Toby's hands were held by two glowing white handcuffs that prevented him from escaping, him also being led by two escorts, yet another couple of the Boss's helpers. They held on to him as if they were hanging off of a cliff, preventing Toby to even move something other than his feet, which dragged drearily to his seat. The experience was all too much, and Toby felt as if he were in a dream. Almost wished that Astro was with him.

Almost.

Toby wasn't all too ready to forgive Astro, or his father. (Maybe his dad, but he still despised the robot) He knew his anger for the robot was too much, but he couldn't help but feel angry, He would've forgiven him by now; it was his natural nature. Astro seemed nice, and it wasn't his fault. He had suffered too much with Toby's harsh words, and Toby knew it. He wouldn't have said those harsh words yet... he did. Something was making him do this, Toby noticed that the second he started to say awful stuff. It wasn't like him. Sure he was angry, but not _that _angry. Nasty thoughts were implanted in his head, but they weren't truly his. It was someone else's. It was just like the attack placed on Astro. Someone was planning to have things work out differently. Toby knew it. But he just didn't have any evidence to back himself up.

Still, he continued to walk over to his seat with a disturbing ache in his stomach. He wanted to throw up, but his two guards wouldn't let him move anything but his legs and eyes. He couldn't do it.

He was soon enough plopped into the wooden chair with a '_thud' _as the Boss shooed the other two helpers away, taking off the handcuffs on Toby's wrists before exiting the room leaving Toby alone, again.

The Boss stood up from his seat and wandered across the room, the young boy's eyes curiously following him. The white cloaked man sighed, peeling the paint off the wall looking distant.

"Just like before" he muttered, then shook his head in disappointed.

"I'm sorry, but I have to do this"

All of Toby's hopes of ever going back to his own time shattered as soon as those words exited the older man's mouth.

_'I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm definitely gonna die' _was all Toby ever though of as he prepared himself for the worst.

_'I'm so screwed'_

**_-o-o-o-o-o-o-_**

"This is all... a lot to sink in"

It really _was _a lot to sink in. They had just watched three lifetimes, of three different timelines*****. One with slaves, another with everything in the ruins, and another, with dinosaurs. Still existing. To this very day. In a movie theater. _Movie theater! _It was all so weird. All of those were recorded somewhere before Astro and Cora's lifetime, just for precaution, according to the the Boss's rules. Nobody had ever seen their future, in a diferrent view, and nobody wanted to know what would happen.

That's why when Astro asked Tock, he just shrugged.

"We're not really sure. Time itself is already as confusing as it is, learning the future... in a different event? We're not sure what would happen. It could mess the entire system up, or it could do nothing. If it ends up messing up time, you'll be sent to the Boss, just like your friend" Tock gulped and immediately regretted adding in that last part, after seeing the depressed look that had replaced Astro's usually cheerful expression. Though lately, it hasn't been so.

"Sorry about that. It was a stupid slip-up" Tock apologized.

Astro sighed. "But can you at least try to get him out? Get away with it?"

Tick had an all of a sudden sad face, which quickly turned into worry before anyone could notice. "I'm sorry. There's no other way" She took a breath. 'But-"

"Can you at least _try? _I know he's cost me so much pain, but in other words, he's me. Can you at least do it, for me?!" Asto flung his hands wide apart, and accidentally pushed aside a tall shelf, Cora trying to catch it before it landed flat on its face, a few things dropping along the way. Tick helped her pick some of the stuff, while Tock filled in, on Tick's interrupted idea, what she was going to say before astro broke down.

"We have an idea though" Tock said, grinning. Yet still, if it ends up failing, not only could Tick and Tock have a risk of losing their titles as "Keepers of Time," they also had the risk of going down the same path of Toby

_**-o-o-o-o-o-o-**_

The process of removing someone from time was simple. The process of removing all the memories, or signs or existence of that person from time, that was the hard part.

The memories of each person lies within an hour glass, and the Boss had all of them in store, so he had ordered two of his assistances to watch over Toby while he was at it. When Tick and Tock heard the news, they quickly raced to his location, insisting that Astro and Cora were under watch of someone else at the moment when they were asked. Their Boss asked no other questions, which they were thankful for, they didn't want to make anymore lies that they would regret later.

"Umm, Boss, can I ask you something before you go?" Tock asked. The Boss turned around, curiously.

"How exactly are you going to take him off of time?" he continued. The Boss sighed, and took a seat.

"Simple, I put two fingers on his forehead, and..."

_'That's right, keep talking' _Tick glanced over her Master's shoulder to see Astro and Cora sneaking into the hourglass room to retrieve Toby's memories. When they were in, Tock continued to stall.

"I don't get it" he bluntly stated trying to look dumb. The Boss chuckled. "It's not like you're supposed to. I'll spare the long story though, I just have to get the hourglass" he said as he was just about ready to leave.

"It's okay Boss, We've got the time, no need to rush" Tick jumped in, pretending to look interested at the current subject. Meanwhile, Astro and Cora were down in the dumps, looking through millions of hourglasses trying to find one in particular.

"Where the heck is it?" complained Cora as she looked through another one belonging to a boy named Leo. They were searching for far to long, and sooner or later, they were going to get caught. While Cora looked through another one named 'Amy', Astro was scanning the room with glowing blue eyes, until he finally found something.

"Oh, there it is" said Astro as he pointed to a floating one somewhere in the middle. Engraved on the bottom, was a name written in cursive, Toby. Astro took it out, and then a holographic sign popped up, saying "You do not have any memories in file at this moment"

"That's useful" Astro said, as he tossed it into the air, catching it before it hit the ground. Cora elbowed him.

"Now is not the time to be reckless, we have to start moving, I don't know how long Tick and Tock can stall him for" Astro nodded. "Right"

"... and since we were here to protect time, someone must have the power to remove any dents. And that's me" finished Tick and Tock's Boss. "Now if you excuse me, I need to retrieve Toby's hourglass" he said, and took off from his seat. Panicking, seeing that Astro and Cora were just exiting the other room, Tick pulled on her Boss's hand.

"Wait, don't go yet, we still have some more questions!" Tick pleaded.

"I told you what you need to know, the rest of the information is for the upperclassmen's ears only" the Boss explained, pushing off Tick's hand.

"But-"

"I do not see why you can't wait for just a moment for me to get something. Honestly, what's wrong with waiting for just a small amount of ti-" the Boss stopped having turned his head to the direction of the hourglass room, with Astro and Cora exiting out of.

"Shoot" Tock cursed.

"What in the world are you guys doing?" The Boss directed his gaze to what Astro and Cora were holding. An hourglass, with the name 'Toby' written neatly, and clearly at the bottom. His face paled, and when Cora and Astro expected him to go burst out yelling, furious, the head Keeper of Time stayed calm.

"Tick, Tock, fetch them for me please"

The time twins nodded at that moment, then zipped toward them in a second, causing the two Metro Kids to flinch. Tick gave a little wink and whispered, "It's our special talent"

Every Keeper had a special talent, the Boss's being to be able to remove someone off time and repair dents. Tick and Tock's was speed. They could get to anywhere and everywhere in a second. And with that, they zipped them off to the Boss. Rather, behind him, towards the exit. It was a stupid plan. Hiding, taking Toby along the ride too. But they needed to find a way. Tick tripped in the process though, and they went slamming to the wall, right next to the exit. The twins face first, the other three, back first.

"Oww..." groaned Toby. Tick and Tock let go of the three and they fell to the ground. Astro was the first to recover, and he picked his friend and his younger self up with both hands. He was going to ask if any of them were alright, but was soon interrupted when a bright light suddenly flashed before their eyes, and they were zipped out to who-knows-where.

The trio reappeared soon enough, but their surroundings were unfamiliar at the slightest. It was dark, but lights were shining everywhere. Buildings were high up, roads too with spotlights yet they held no hovercars. In fact, the city itself felt deserted despite the people around them. But what surprised the trio the most, was all the billboards, with only one subject in particular.

President Stone.

"W-where are we?"

**I know, a cliffy, but I needed to end this! Oh right, for those who know me as an author, I'm updating all my stories today cuz it's my ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! WHOO! But if you look on my profile, you'll see that I haven't made much progress... that's why I'm updating everything. Well, please leave a review, and I'll see you next update!**


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